What should i know about the culinary industry?

So what do I need to know to be at a "junior web developer" level? (That's also my goal in terms of entering the tech industry). And how do I go about learning them?

• At the moment, I only know HTML and CSS, and am studying Ruby. I'm going to be studying Ruby on Rails soon, but what else? I've read that I need to know some JavaScript, MySQL, how to use Git and Github, and a host of other things. I don't know how to attack this challenge. Is there anything in particular I absolutely need to know from the beginning? I know this takes a while to learn, and I'm willing to put in the time (years, I know). Thank you for your answers!

• Answer:

  It helps if you know what your end goal is. Are you looking to make basic blogs, or enterprise applications, or the next Facebook? The skills you want to develop depends on that - although I realize you may not know yet. Here's some broad advice: On the back-end (the software running on the server), you'll want to be familiar with the standard LAMP software stack, or Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP. Some key points: Read about CentOS, Ubuntu Server (my favorite), and Windows Server. Why do people choose these? Why is Linux dominant in servers? Read about Apache, especially .htaccess (a headache, but often useful). Also read about alternatives to Apache, like Nginx and Hiawatha. Learn MySQL. It's very useful (take a look at MariaDB as well, which is similar, and starting to pick up steam). Learn PHP. I'm not going to get into it's merits (can of worms), but its the biggest web language by far and you'll probably have to work with it at some point. Finally, it wouldn't hurt to be familiar with the cost and structure of servers. Browse providers like Rack Space and Liquid Web, and also Amazon Web Services (and Google/Microsoft alternatives). Why would someone choose AWS, when it's generally more expensive than a dedicated server? (Hint: some websites experience bursts of traffic, not steady levels) You don't have to be an expert on the OS, Apache, or the hardware, but you don't want to be ignorant either. It's also worth studying the arguments for using Ruby, Python, or PHP, since this is a major discussion in web development. On the front-end (code executed on the client's device), you've got HTML for page structure, and CSS for style (you're already familiar with these). You've also got JavaScript for dynamic elements (be aware that ~2% of web users don't have JS enabled, how will your site look to them?). It's worth learning at least basic JavaScript, as well as jQuery (an extension to JS). On HTML 5, I'm going to go against the grain of popular opinion and say that it's not ready for prime time, and not worth incorporating into your websites. Browser support for any element is random, and the standards can change on a moment's notice (anyone remember <hgroup>?) Finally, AJAX is super useful. If you don't know, it's basically a technology stack that lets the client send and receive data from the server without a page reload. Websites like Google Maps would be impossible without AJAX, and most websites can at least use it a little. Worth knowing. For learning, the best website I've found is http://www.codecademy.com. You can get basic familiarity with a lot of languages there.